Oh, how I love organizing! There is something euphoric about perfectly folded towels and the smell of freshly printed labels. Don’t you agree?

While my home maybe meticulously organized (Sort of. Thanks to Marie Kondo), the truth is my office was another story: stacks of business cards, chaotic email files, random spreadsheets of leads, and unorganized notebooks filled with great ideas on the brink of being forgotten forever.

That was until I got the idea to implement the Marie Kondo method for my work life! Specifically, my marketing efforts.

That is right, today I am going to teach you how to Marie Kondo your marketing!

For those of you who may have been living under a rock, Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizing guru and her magic “KonMari” method to home organizing has its own bingeable Netflix show and best selling book. She is a tiny, fierce, powerhouse of a woman and she is changing lives.

Here is the KonMari method in a nutshell:

• Commit yourself to tiding up
• Imagine your ideal lifestyle
• Tidy up by category – not by location
• Keep only those things that speak to the heart
• Discard items that no longer spark joy. Thank them for their service – then let them go.

 

It is as simple, and as difficult as that. Don’t worry though, I am going tow walk you through how to do this for your marketing efforts.

COMMIT YOURSELF TO TIDING UP

First, you must commit to doing this. Block some time off in your calendar – I suggest at least an hour or two. If it’s not scheduled it won’t happen. Also, just as it goes with organizing your home, understand going into this that it may get messier before it gets more organized. Committing to the process will help you from giving up halfway through when you feel buried.

IMAGINE YOUR IDEAL LIFESTYLE

Next, you need to imagine what your ideal “marketing” life looks like. What kind of clients do you want? How do you envision the best possible marketing plan? How fast do you want to generate leads and why? What you are doing here is clarifying why you want to tidy up and envisioning your best life. Do you have a vision in mind? Awesome.

TIDY UP BY CATEGORY 

Ready to roll up your sleeves? The next step to Marie Kondo your marketing is to take inventory and understand what “categories” you are working with. It is time to get a visual overview. Make a list of the following:

All your current leads and prospective clients Go further by creating “piles” for the different types of prospects that you have (hot leads, referrals, website leads, etc.).

All your current marketing tactics. Write down everything that is currently part of your marketing strategy (social media, print, newsletters, blog posts, ads, referrals, etc.)

Determine the categories that work best for you.

Listing these out in one place will help you get a holistic view of your current strategy and pipeline. Remember you are looking at these by category, not by the general group.

For example, don’t look at all your leads at once, look at just your website leads or your referral leads. Or instead of looking at all your social media tactics, look at just your Instagram strategy. This is a helpful way to see how much of everything you have.

KEEP ONLY THOSE THINGS THAT SPEAK TO THE HEART 

Now that you have your categories locked, it is time to determine what sparks joy! For me this is the cornerstone of the entire method. Asking if “this” sparks joy is such a powerful question in determining what stays or goes. Take stock of your emotional investments. Did you enjoy your marketing work last year?

Let’s look at this in relation to your leads and prospects.

When you are looking at your list of hot leads, for example, are there prospects that you just love calling? You know the ones! They are friendly but maybe just aren’t quite ready to buy. I’d say they are keepers. Alternatively, are there prospects who hang up on you and are rude every-single-time you call?  Maybe a follower on social media that post negative comments? They clearly are not sparking joy and maybe need to get deleted or blocked.

Further, if your blog posts are an important and engaging part of your marketing strategy, then it’s an easy decision to keep them. Versus, money you’ve spent on Facebook ads that have resulted in zero leads.

Boil it down to the things you enjoy and the things you don’t.

Which brings us to the last step in the Marie Kondo your marketing process.

DISCARD ITEMS THAT NO LONGER SPARK JOY. THANK THEM & LET THEM GO.

It is time to get rid of what is not working. Stop wasting time with marketing tactics that are not yielding results. Ditch time-consuming tasks that aren’t making an impact.

For leads and prospects that aren’t sparking joy do the same, however thank them for their time and let them know that you won’t be following up anymore.

Here is a quick email script you can use:

Subject line: Let’s go our separate ways

Prospect,

I’ve tried to reach out a few times with no response (or I know we’ve been talking back and forth with no real results). I’ll take the hint that you’re either too busy or simply not interested.

If in fact you have some interest now or in the future, I welcome you to reach out to me. Thank you for your time.

All the best,

An awesome marketer

Side note: This may in fact turn your prospect around. You’ve shifted the paradigm. Human nature is to reject rejection. Worse case, you find out they were never really a prospect. Best case, you find out they are interested but have actually just been busy.

Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Decluttering.

You may not like giving up leads or marketing tools, but with a few less you can be way more intentional with the ones you keep. Taking an audit of what is working and what isn’t is a great way to help you redirect and focus on what is best for your business. Less is more. Your time is valuable- focus on what works!

Maybe you don’t love to organize the way that I do, and that is okay. But I bet we love joy the same. When your life and work is organized it frees you up to enjoy more of life.

So, focus on what sparks joy!